2011 Parade of Homes Green Award for Water Efficiency

EcoScapes Landscaping worked with Prull & Associates through 2010 and 2011 on the development of a sustainable residential landscape here in Santa Fe. Our role was focused on the design and implementation of a beautiful residential landscape that was built upon the foundation of local ecological principles, with regionally appropriate plantings and materials, which maximize the conservation and sustainable use of our precious local water resources. Upon its completion this home and its landscape were shown and judged in the 2011 Parade of Homes where it received a 2011 Parade of Homes Green Award for Water Efficiency for homes over 2,000 sq/ft.

Grey Water Infiltrators:

The Grey Water Infiltrators are buried below the finished grade. They are hollow semi-circles that are wrapped in a high grade landscape fabric, covered with mulch (in this case shredded pinions and junipers that were reused from trees cleared from the construction site), plumed to be connected to the grey water source emanating from the home and finally buried under soil to the finish grade level. In this project we installed multiple Grey Water Infiltrator systems tied to various sources from with in the home. These are located in specific locations to aid in the watering of on site plantings.

French Drain:

We installed a French Drain along the back portal where there was no active water catchment system capturing and directing water to the below ground storage tanks. This drain is a narrow and deep trench graded away from the home, which is filled with washed gravel, a perforated 4" pipe all of which is wrapped in high grade landscape fabric and buried.

Active Water Harvesting:

For this project we installed the active water harvesting catchment system. This consists of a series of catchment basins along the drip edges of the building and below the canales. As demonstrated in the images above we built the catchment basins with steel edged, EPDM lined, stream-bed-esqe basins that blend onto the landscape with their nature flowing forms. When the water falls into these basins it is directed to belowground inlets that funnel the water into the below ground conveyance and on to the below ground storage tanks which feed the irrigation system.

The General Site Plan: